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Emerson Fellow: Jarvis Benson »

26th Class, 2019-2020

Pre-Fellowship Education and Experience:

Originally from Grenada, Mississippi, Jarvis graduated with honors from the University of Mississippi with degrees in international studies and Spanish. His passion for social justice came while serving as a community organizer for the non-profit Mississippi Votes and overseeing the largest voter registration effort in the state since the Freedom Summer of 1964. A former president of the Black Student Union and Associated Student Body government senator, Jarvis also served as an AmeriCorps VISTA associate in the New Albany Mississippi School District. In his senior year, Jarvis conducted research in Puebla, Mexico for his undergraduate thesis on the impact of segregation on poverty in the city.